The term “non-self-propelled marine vehicle” is used herein to broadly refer to marine vehicles, such as small rowboats, canoes, kayaks, inflatable boats, surfboards, or wind-surfboards, which are not equipped with a propulsion unit such as an outboard motor for self-propelling of the marine vehicle, or which do not have a transom for mounting an outboard motor.
Propulsion attachments removably mounted on a non-self-propelled marine vehicle for propelling the marine vehicle are known as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,666.
The disclosed propulsion attachment includes a bracket for mounting an outboard motor to a canoe. The bracket comprises a hollow frame of generally triangular configuration, a plurality of cup-shaped members mounted on the frame and directed to engage sides and top deck of the canoe, and a vertical motor support fixed to L-shaped arms at an apex of the triangular frame. For operation, the bracket is fitted over a rear end of the canoe so that the cup-shaped members engage the sides and top deck of the canoe until a proper tight fit is secured between the cup-shaped member and the canoe. Then, an outboard motor is mounted on the vertical motor support.
The propulsion attachment of the foregoing construction is intended for exclusive use with a canoe and cannot be used with surfboards because the surfboards are relatively thin and have no side walls large enough to permit fitting engagement with the cup-shaped members to secure attachment of the bracket to the surfboards.
Surfing (also called “surfriding”) is the sport of riding in toward shore on the crest of a wave on a surfboard while balancing the buoyancy (or lift) and the gravity acting on the surfboard. Surfboards used in the sport of surfing normally have no propulsion unit, however, self-propelled surfboards, i.e., surfboard equipped with a propulsion unit are also known as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication (JP-UM-A) No. 01-95499.
The disclosed self-propelled surfboard comprises a surfboard body, an engine mounted inside the surfboard body, and a water jet screw propeller disposed at a rear end of the surfboard body and driven by the engine for propelling the surfboard. The engine-driven surfboard is very large in size, heavy in weight and expensive, so that a person riding on this surfboard cannot enjoy a dynamic riding feel or pleasure that can be obtained when using a normal non-self-propelled surfboard.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a frame structure, which is removably mounted on a non-self-propelled marine vehicle for the purpose of attaching a propulsion unit to the non-self-propelled marine vehicle to thereby expand use or application of the marine vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a removable frame structure, which is used for attachment of a propulsion unit to a non-self-propelled marine vehicle, and which is highly convenient for storage and transportation.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a removable marine propulsion attachment including the foregoing frame structure and a propulsion unit removably mounted on the frame structure.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a handle, which can be readily attached to or detached from a non-self-propelled vehicle for holding by a person riding on the marine vehicle.